My husband says I’m hard to encourage. And he’s right. I honestly just do not believe people when they say kind things to me. It’s not because I think they are lying or anything like that. It’s because if I don’t believe it about myself, or if I see myself differently, I think, “If they really knew me they wouldn’t think those things.” It’s like, “That’s nice and all, but I know the truth. You’re just biased or seeing me through some faulty lens that makes me appear better than I actually am. I’m really not that good. I’m actually kind of terrible.”
Read morelearning my name.
Not too long ago, my husband and I were meeting with a spiritual mentor about some spiritual warfare issues that had been going on in our lives. We were seeking direction on how to handle a few different situations, and also asking for prayer and support during this time. The meeting changed course and was very surprising to me. During his prayer for us, our mentor began to focus on me. He said that he felt deeply that I needed to learn my name. Have you ever had someone speak truth and life into you? Has someone ever encouraged you so deeply that you just honestly didn't know what to think or how to respond?…
Read moredefeating the Amalekites in marriage and ministry.
This past weekend, we had our annual youth retreat at our church. My husband serves as the Youth Pastor, and I am honored to work along side him. The week leading up to the event was STRESSFUL. We had leaders backing out left and right, not enough servers for food, anticipated rain for our outside portion of the weekend. Things were just not coming together. And to top it off, we also had personal and family things going on. Our water heater busted the morning of the day the event would start. My husband and I just kept looking at each other all day that Friday thinking, this is just not going to work. We were exhausted and defeated before we kicked off the weekend where we would just get more tired and stretched thin.
I actually walked into the church that Friday evening and told my husband I did not want to be there, and I wanted to go home and cry. But I was only staying because I knew he needed me…
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